This week has seen many celebrations for our community. On Monday our community acknowledge the many achievements of our Year 10 cohort before they head into the College Years (Year 11 and 12). Congratulations to the students who were acknowledged through the following perpetual awards:

• Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award- Lauren Murphy
• ADF Future Innovators Award – Josh Backwell
• ACU Award for Achievement through the application of a growth mindset – Alexander Rose
• Rotary Club of Gungahlin, St John Paul II College Justice Peace and Courage award for Citizenship, Leadership and Community Service– Taya Lyon

Tuesday evening the College celebrate the Year 12 Graduation Mass and Awards, followed by the Formal on Thursday. Both were lovely celebrations for our Year 12 graduates, who have shown great resilience, through the many disruptions of COVID and finding their way in the new COVID normal world. Through the Mass and awards ceremony, we had an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the diverse range of skills and talents amongst the cohort. Each year there is a number of special awards given acknowledging contributions to various areas of College life, the recipients were as follows:

• BSSS Community Service Award nominee - Ivy Keating
• BSSS Vocational Studies Award nominee - Tilly Bean
• BSSS Excellence Award nominee – Tyler Nguyen
• Moira Najdecki Award for Academic Excellence winner - Ivy Keating
• Moira Najdecki Award for Academic Excellence runners up - Eva Kolak and Gabrielle Jordan
• ADF Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork Award - Jordan Skerritt
• ADF Future Innovators Award - Darshan Rjinkanranth
• St John Paul II College Award for Justice - Addison Atkinson
• St John Paul II College Award for Peace - Faria Mustafa
• St John Paul II College award for Courage – Kiara Petriella

Thank you to the many family members who have joined in these celebrations. Your presence acknowledges the importance of parents and guardians as the primary educators of our students.

Year 12 Mass and Graduation

Year 12 Formal - Photobooth

This week the Enrichment program has continued with a diverse range of activities (see below articles). Many of our Year 7-9 students are looking forward to their social day next week, where they will venture out to Big Splash.

Enjoy your weekend.

Regards,

Kathleen Garvie

This year’s theme for the Arts Enrichment Days was “Short and Sweet.” These days allowed for students to explore different types of storytelling by developing their creativity, crafting and collaborative skillset. Students had the opportunity to experience the world of creative arts through practical activities that are not always practised in the classroom led by the specialist Arts teachers.

Monday – Year 9 ‘Subject Sell’

Year 9 students experienced ‘short and sweet’ Dance, Drama, Music, Photography and Visual Arts sessions. From Indigenous dance workshop to recontextualising well-known stories for drama performances, interpretive music sessions, students eagerly engaged. In Visual Arts students did foam printing and also completed a photography challenge where they needed to “to capture the beauty all around them” within our campus grounds. Photographers produced unique and intriguing images, particularly thinking about framing, lighting, and symmetry. Congratulations to the following Year 9 Photography Challenge winners:

• 1^stPlace - Addison Hill
• 2^ndPlace – Riley Stiller
• Equal 3^rdPlace – Mikayla Ford and Riley Perrot

Please see Mrs Jewell for your prizes. 

Tuesday – Year 7 ‘Showcasing Short Stories’

Year 7 students engaged in a ‘Short and Sweet Film Fest’ where they planned, filmed and edited a short film restricted only by their imagination. Each film needed to include a significant prop – an umbrella, including compulsory dialogue with a selection of specific camera angles to create meaning and mood for the audience. Following this, students engaged in a massive Trivia Challenge answering a variety of general knowledge questions about Arts subjects and collaborative physical challenges. Congratulations to the winning films of the Short and Sweet Showcase:

• Cobra Kai
• FIFA World Cup
• Bundy
• Mean Girls
• Hateful Herbert Haunting

Friday – Year 8 ‘Puppet Play’

Year 8 students grappled with their characterisation and crafting skills to create hand, (almost) life-size and shadow puppets. After learning the skills to make and bring the puppets to life, students captured the life of the puppet in a ‘short and sweet’ film inspired by the themes of Christmas, cringe and carnival. In addition to puppeteering, students completed a ‘Make is Snappy’ photo challenge captuirng a series of images exploring different photographic techniques and physical challenges. Congratulations to the winning groups for their creativity and commitment to the day.

Mrs Sarah Smith
Leader of Learning and Wellbeing (The Arts, Van Thuan)
Drama Teacher

RE Enrichment @ JPC

Year 7, 8 and 9 at JPC have participated in enrichment for Religious Education with creative activities planned for each group over many weeks.

Unlike normal class time, during our end-of-year enrichment weeks, the students are free from assessment, so they can enjoy experiences without having to worry about grades or pressure.

Year 7’s theme was kindness to others, and as part of this theme, they wrote letters and affirmations, expressing (in some cases for the first time) their thoughts and feelings for their friends and family members.

All Year 7 students were given the opportunity to paint a ceramic cross made for them by their teachers and Year 10 students. Over 200 crosses were made, and the students painted and decorated these. The crosses will be hung on a wall in the Chapel and were used as a display in our liturgy at the end of the enrichment day.

Year 8 focussed on “Mission” and spent the day painting a mural of our house patrons: Sor Isolina Ferre, St Katharine Drexel, Wangari Maathai, Fr Ted Kennedy, Marie Helene Mathieu and Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan.

They watched the film “The Freedom Writers” which tells the story of a pioneering young teacher called Erin Gruwell. 

Gruwell was an idealistic young teacher in the 1990s whose experiences changed the reality of many young people in a Los Angeles school impacted by gang activity. She did this through helping them to reflect on their experiences by writing diaries and journals.

They made short videos and TikToks to advertise the St Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal, and the best ones won a hamper (purchased from St Vinnies) and were presented with these awards by Matthew Wilson, the Youth Officer for Vinnies in Canberra/Goulburn. Congratulations to the winning students!

Year 9 had a focus on stewardship, sustainability, and care for our common home. They watched the newly created film “The Letter” which is about the Pope’s efforts to create awareness of environmental degradation. They participated in simulation activities which helped them to learn about how our carbon footprint affects everyone around us. Finally, they made murals of each of the house patrons out of their rubbish which has been collected by teachers over recent weeks. This had a powerful impact on their understanding of how much we waste when they saw the amount of plastic wrapping. Our inspiration for this exercise was the film

‘Wasteland’ where Brazilian Artist Vic Muniz goes to a large rubbish dump in Rio de Janeiro to make portraits of people who subsist by recycling rubbish.

Each of the themes were carefully selected by the teachers on the RE planning team, and it was a privilege to be able to give them an opportunity to have fun, be creative and deepen their faith and appreciation of social justice.

Beth Doherty
Religious Education Faculty, Drexel House
Teacher of Religious Education

Year 7s immersed themselves in Science enrichment on Friday of Week 17. These students used vinegar and baking soda to create test-tube rainbows.

One team even made a rainbow in a single test tube. Amazing work year 7s!!

Carly Conlan
Integrated Maths and Science Facilitator
Van Thuan House

The year 8 students participated in enriching technology projects: cycling through tower building, paper plane constructing and egg protection device creation. The tallest tower was 2700mm high!

Our Year 9 students spent their Technology enrichment day designing then building bridges out of wood, glue and other items, in order to span a gap of 400mm and hold as much weight as possible. The winning bridge held 17.5kgs!

Louise Bignell
Science & Mathematics Teacher

Dear Year 11 2023 Students, Parents and Carers,

Information regarding the year 11 Conference 2023 will be emailed to year 11 2023 families on Monday 5 December 2022.

The Conference will be two days and one night away at Camp Wombaroo from Thursday 2 February to Friday 3 February 2023 (Early departure & Late return). Make sure you save the date.

The main action for parents/carers at this stage will be to grant permission and pay at least a deposit by 27 January 2023. Information on how to do this to come next week.

Regards

Mrs Kelly Candy

Billy Pumpa, Year 9 Van Thuan and his team were invited to participate in the 2022 Pacific Series in Christchurch NZ, the South Island's biggest pacific event. They were the first international team to go!

It's a two-day event celebrating culture and sport. They were also invited to play the Celebration Lions rep team that hasn't lost in 6 years....and they won. The team travelled over for 8 days. Whilst there they participated in Adrenalin Forest tree top climbing, for Hanmer Hot Springs, Jetboating, paintball, Action Clay Karts and had a training session with local legends. A fantastic experience all around.

Game 1: Sharks 23 v Fiji 9

Game 2: Sharks 4 v Kotahitanga 24

Game 3: Sharks 16 v NGA Tuakana 4

Game 4: Sharks 14 v South Island Malie 4

Game 5: Sharks 30 v Tonga Warriors 8

Celebration Lions match: Sharks 20 v Lions 16

Are you Leaving JPC at the end of 2022? 

Bpoint and Direct Debit payments have now CEASED 

Please ensure that you have set up BPay as your fee payment method.

A Fee calculator will be available on our website soon, to assist in calculating the payment amount required.

https://jpc.act.edu.au/school-fees-calculator

ENROLLMENTS FOR 2023 NOW OPEN!!!

Ever wondered about learning to play a musical instrument??

Here are some great reasons why you should sign up!!

The first part of the night will be a Panel discussion, Q & A and then breakout to Expo style.

Guest speakers on Panel include; Employer, Apprentice or Trainee, and more.

You will then get to speak with all exhibitors, gather valuable information and submit your resume for positions they have available!

Will include a focus on ASBAs (Australian School Based Apprentices or Trainees) and supporting women interested in getting into non-traditional trades.

Who should attend: Anyone interested in an Apprenticeship or Traineeship, any age, at school or recent school leaver, Parents/Caregivers, employed, unemployed, Career Practitioners, TACOs, WEX Coordinators, those interested in ASBAs and women interested in a career in a non-traditional trade.

We have employers seeking keen people for their jobs! A wide range of positions is available! Get all the information you need!

Apply for jobs!

You will need to Register to attend: https://forms.office.com/r/h8NKAL4rfX

Don’t forget to bring your resume with you!

Tea, coffee, water, and light refreshments are available. Parking on site.

We look forward to seeing you on the night!

Archie and Brooke share tips on how to have a safe and happy holiday break with ideas to beat the boredom, stay calm, and the importance of help-seeking.

Visit - https://dartlearning.org.au/excursion/have-a-safe-and-happy-holidays-from-kids-helpline-recording/

Parish Newsletter

For the latest news Click here or you can view it on the Parish App or visit the website below.

20% off school uniforms in December at Chilada

(sales applies in-store and online: www.chilada.com.au ) 

The sale starts on the 1st - 31st of December 2022

Zumba is a dance-based fitness program that is popular in many countries across the world. It combines aerobic exercise with Latin & popular music to give you a great workout while having a lot of fun. You do not need to be a dancer or be fit, just have a sense of humour and be prepared to shake & sweat.

I have been a Zumba instructor for over 3 years, teaching in gyms and school halls around Canberra, but I am especially excited for this class in Harrison; I grew up in Gungahlin and I’m looking forward to sharing Zumba with my local community.